Speaking from his heart, Gu Biao is not the kind of low-IQ back-and-down traverser, and he will not casually look down on Motorola's plan because he knows the so-called historical trend.

The failure of the "Iridium Project" is the result of the changes in the times and the combined effect of various factors, and it does not mean that the plan is completely unsuccessful from the root

Think about it, Motorola is also the originator of the wireless communication industry for more than ten years, how can those high-powered executives be mentally retarded?

Standing in the decision-making period of 1987~1988, Motorola's plan is really likely to attract a high-end user base that is enough to bridge the cost with the selling point of "absolutely awesome signal reliability".

Because the world is still in the Cold War, the mentality of the rich in the Cold War era and the rich in the era of pure peaceful development in later generations is difficult to understand with empathy.

In this era, many of the old rich people who span several generations are keen on post-apocalyptic survivalists, and even pay huge bills for the top-level black technology equipment that continues to provide security after the outbreak of nuclear war and the destruction of basic survival facilities on the ground.

At that time, the Western tycoons even used the black technology of the equipment they bought to meet the social comparison, which was similar to the comparison with high-end customized luxury goods after the end of the Cold War.

When you go to a place where the ground has been completely bombed back to its prehistoric state, the satellites in the sky can still provide you with signals, and you can call when you want.

It's just that then Lucia burped, and the world is the same......

So the timing of the Motorola people making the "Iridium Project", their idea is right.

Around the same time, the U.S. military also launched the GPs program, or Global Positioning System, which required half the size of satellites than Motorola's Iridium, but the initial investment was only slightly lower than the former.

Later, the GPs were also halfway through, the Soviet Union was gone, and the Americans were at a loss as if they had lost their opponents. At one point, the military also considered letting civilian capital pay for follow-up investments that had not yet been built.

It's a pity that the Hexagon can't find a pick-up man, and it can't afford to waste the money that has been smashed, so it pinched its nose to finish the GPs thing, and the official global network was completed, which is similar to Iridium in a year or two.

If the Cold War had been fought, and enough death-fearing rich people had given it blood transfusions, Motorola's Iridium program might have really crushed the Gsm standards of the Europeans.

From this point of view, the Cold War also greatly promoted the progress of mankind, and mankind was forced out by military pressure to some extent of the black technology that was originally only cost-effective.

Without the Cold War, at least those "uneconomical" technologies would be decades behind.

Moreover, during the Cold War, the rich bought expensive, low-cost black technology equipment as a selling point to show off their wealth, which was always more progressive than showing off bags and luxury cars later.

The key is that the poor of that era will be forced by force to envy the black technology that improves the chance of survival, and it makes sense for the rich to use black technology to pretend to be forced.

It can only be said that Motorola's plan was born at the wrong time, and it is not a crime of war.

……

After smoothing out the logical causes and consequences and overall factors, Gu Biao also has a bottom on how to deal with Chris Galvin's fundraising temptation.

Chris Galvin's recent idea of capital operation is mainly in two directions.

Ultimate Marvel

Open source and reduce expenditure.

Open source is the issuance of various corporate bonds, including convertible bonds, to carry out róng zī.

Because bank loans are definitely out of play, a company as big as Motorola can afford to operate the benign debts that should be carried on a daily basis, and they must be almost fully borrowed. A multi-billion dollar demand has popped up temporarily, and it is a drop in the bucket to squeeze it on that point.

In addition, Motorola seems to be very confident in the project, and everyone seems to think that as long as Iridium is completed, the company's market value can increase several times. Bite to death and refuse to let shareholders and investors take advantage of it, and refuse to issue new shares.

Therefore, open source can definitely only be dominated by bonds.

As for throttling, Gu Biao can see that Chris Galvin wants to strip away all the heavy asset production links that require capital intensity, and squeeze out the daily cash flow.

And the reason why he came to talk to Zhang Zhongmou was obviously about Motorola's cPu production business.

Gu Biao and Zhang Zhongmou engaged in Xiangji, full of construction for two and a half years, how expensive it is to engage in semiconductor technology, Gu Biao is the clearest in history, Zhang Zhongmou went to Wanwan to engage in Xiangji, a few years ago, he spent a net investment of 700 million US dollars, and in this life, he and Gu Biao engaged in Xiangji, and the total investment is only a lot more.

Specifically, each time a new generation of cPU is made, it may cost as little as one or two hundred million or two hundred million dollars, and as much as two or three hundred million US dollars.

The new generation here does not refer to the cPu model.

In layman's terms, it is equivalent to "further improving the level of cPu processing technology from x nanometers to Y nanometers" that everyone often hears in later generations.

As long as the number in front of the nanometer is obviously moved, at the end of the 80s, it will be one to three hundred million US dollars, including the upgrading and research and development needs of lithography machines and other things.

At the beginning of the production of Zhang Zhongmou's Xiangji in 86, Gu Biao took the lead in obtaining the foundry of Motorola 6mhZ with a main frequency of 68000cPu. But because the cPu was put into the market by Motorola itself in 1985, Motorola itself had built production capacity before, but there were some unpopular equipment and technologies, which had to be outsourced by Texas Instruments at that time.

In other words, the products of that generation, Xiangji Electric can be made, Motorola itself can also be made, and Motorola itself has not abolished its martial arts.

It is nothing more than Xiangjidian can be better one-stop, and the comprehensive cost is far more cost-effective than Motorola's production, and there are fewer uncontrollable factors.

But now, in the 1988 wave, the 68000 10mhZ cPu will be ready for mass production in a few months, and whether to build a first-party production line and prepare the first-party process for it must be put on the agenda immediately.

Motorola has not yet spent the equipment and technology licensing investment required for the production process, so it is an important choice whether to spend it at this time.

And the Iridium program has to occupy so many resources that Motorola's top management has to be cautious about every spending of hundreds of millions of dollars.

After all, although the Iridium project is planned to cost $5 billion in total, it will initially cost $1 billion a year.

For $1 billion, if you can save $2~$300 million in expenses from other directions this year and invest in Iridium, the pressure will be reduced by 30% in an instant, which is very tempting for the senior management.

For Motorola, the account is clear. Although cPu and wireless communication are both very competitive industries of the company, if you want to give priority to concentrating resources to tackle one first, it must be wireless communication is your own son. Stunning Enchanting: The king's stunning favorite concubine

After all, Motorola is only one of the world's advanced levels in the field of chips, and Intel and these companies are no worse than it. In the field of wireless communications, Motorola is the emperor and the ancestor, erasing the tail code of that "one".

For any company, it is more important to be able to compete for the first place in the world.

At the same time, Motorola is not aware of the danger and does not feel that "if our generation gives up self-production, the next generation will not be able to catch up."

In the eyes of the American capitalists of the 80s, the ability to produce this kind of capacity was worthless.

As long as the core technology is in hand, the production is nothing more than a crooked melon and cracked jujube that is thrown out casually when there is no cost comparative advantage. They can take it back at any time if they want to.

This kind of misunderstanding can continue for 20 years, until entering the 2010s of the 21st century, Americans are surprised to find: Hey, how can you produce such a low-end thing, it seems that you can't move it back? Why do you feel that after so many supporting facilities and the whole industry chain cooperate, there is a lack of arms and legs during production?

Under the influence of various factors, Motorola is most concerned about whether Xiangji can give enough commitment and show reliable strength to ensure that Motorola will not drop the chain after abandoning its martial arts in the production process.

……

The three parties negotiated many details carefully, from supply chain guarantee to technical solutions for spare tires, Zhang Zhongmou was very professional, and tried his best to give answers that satisfied the American guests.

After talking about technical feasibility and technical safety, Gu encouraged the Galvin family to strengthen their determination:

"Chris, I see, I can't help you with Róng Zī. After I acquired Wang An Computer, it was really a shortage of cash flow. Therefore, you can go to Peterson for the matter of issuing bonds, and I can only subscribe to tens of millions of dollars of bonds for you at most, which symbolically expresses my optimism.

However, it is my duty to help your company save money. You can put a hundred hearts and outsource 100% of the follow-up production links of the 68000 series to us, and you don't have to keep a spare tire production line by yourself!"

Chris Galvin has been bombarded with rhetoric before, but he will definitely not decide this kind of big thing, but first think about the alternatives and liability for breach of contract.

"But no matter how good your guarantee is, what if there is a problem in the supply chain? This is related to our Motorola's goodwill, market share, and customer maintenance." ”

Zhang Zhongmou on the side wanted to pack the ticket, but after thinking about it, he endured it.

When talking about technical promises, he can beat his chest loudly.

But this kind of business-level commitment involves at least tens of millions of dollars in breach of contract liability in a mouthful, and he still doesn't dare to speak. And most of the shares of Xiangji are Gu Wei's, how can he be qualified to joke and take risks in this kind of thing.

And from Zhang Zhongmou's standpoint, this matter is the best that can be done, and it can only be said that there are some regrets if it can't be done, but it does not harm the core interests of Xiangji. It's a big deal that the next generation will take their time.

However, Gu Biao opened his mouth to pack the ticket: "Then what do you want? I am for the sake of the friendship and cooperation between you and my brother for so many years, so I will take it with ease today." Who let me get married yesterday, happy in my heart, let me put it this way, if there is a major quality accident in the stability of Xiangjidian, or the supply chain is delayed in production capacity, even if you ask me to compensate 10 million US dollars for the loss of liability for breach of contract, I can bear it!

This is originally a matter of sharing my worries for you Motorola, and I will just say a word if I can't do it. ”